AT&T and DirecTV CEOs channel complementary styles

CEO of AT&T Randall Stephenson attends "the new digital context" session at the Davos Economic Forum on January 22, 2014. Some 40 world leaders gather in the Swiss ski resort Davos to discuss and debate a wide range of issues including the causes of conflicts plaguing the Middle East, and how to reinvigorate the global economy.(Photo: ERIC PIERMONT, AFP/Getty Images)

AT&T's acquisition of DirecTV unites two CEOs, AT&T's Randall Stephenson and DirecTV's Michael White, on a common mission: a more resilient multidimensional company that can thrive amid industry change and consolidation.

The two took different paths to the altar. Stephenson, 54, has spent his career in telecommunications, joining Southwestern Bell in 1982 in his home state of Oklahoma. White, 62, had his longest stint at PepsiCo before becoming DirecTV's CEO in 2010.

They have known each other for years, as members of the Business Roundtable, and their companies have had a joint distribution agreement.

White appeared on CBS reality show Undercover Boss in 2010. And he did his own unpublicized undercover stint, working in various departments after becoming CEO. "He really tried to learn the different aspects of it. I respect that," Doherty says. Stephenson, meanwhile, is "the ultimate corporate man."

STEPHENSON'S CAREER IN TELECOM

Stephenson rose through Southwestern Bell to become chief operating officer in 2004. He was appointed to the board of directors of AT&T in 2005, the year that SBC acquired it and changed the name of the subsequent company to AT&T.

SBC had been considered "the runt of the litter" after the breakup of AT&T in 1982, says Roger Entner, an analyst with Recon Analytics. But Stephenson, along with then-CEO Ed Whitacre, grew the company into a telecommunications giant.

Among the triumphs at AT&T is 2007's initially exclusive deal with Apple to market the iPhone. That continues to bear fruit as last month AT&T reported its strongest growth in long-term wireless subscribers in five years — adding 1 million. Wireless revenue was up 7% from a year earlier to $18 billion, also the strongest growth in years.

Not as successful was an attempt to acquire competitor T-Mobile, which it abandoned in 2011 because of regulatory concerns. "You can't blame the man for trying," Entner says. "He did the right thing." Sprint, which argued against the deal, now wants to buy T-Mobile.

In 2013, Stephenson earned nearly $20.6 million in salary, bonuses and other income.

A former goalie who played intramural ice hockey in the 1970s while a student at Boston College, White previously held executive positions at Avon Products, Bain & Co. and Arthur Andersen & Co. Since the former PepsiCo executive took the CEO slot in January 2010, he has had to court subscribers and grow sales as media choices expand for consumers.

White helped grow DirecTV's presence in Latin America, where it is the leading pay-TV provider, with 18 million subscribers. White's expertise in a region that has the upcoming World Cup and the 2016 Summer Olympics is valuable, Doherty says.

Yet the company has also gotten tangled in high-profile media battles. In 2012, it stopped carrying channels owned by Viacom because of a contract dispute. Recently, it wrangled with the Weather Channel over fees and programming.

It is assumed that White will stay on for a while during the transition and then perhaps "ride off into the sunset ... to other opportunities," Doherty says.